HEAVENLY PEACE: Mary and Joseph look over the newborn Jesus yesterday in a scene from Newtown’s Christmas pageant, as the Three Wise Men spread the joy off stage.

HEAVENLY PEACE: Mary and Joseph look over the newborn Jesus yesterday in a scene from Newtown’s Christmas pageant, as the Three Wise Men spread the joy off stage. (
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One by one, the minivans rolled into the parking lot, booster seats in the back filled with bright-eyed, eager children.

The little girls wore angel costumes with golden wings, shiny patent-leather shoes and tights as white as early-morning snow. Several little boys were dressed as tiny shepherds, barely big enough to hold the crooks they were given to keep watch over their make-believe flock.

Not even the police car that circled the Newtown HS parking lot could wipe the glee off the happy, young faces. Yes, death has hit this Connecticut town like a powerful winter storm. But Christmas brings life.

“It’s been tough,” said Bernard Reidy, whose 7-year-old son, Seamus, played one of the Three Wise Men in the town’s annual Christmas pageant yesterday.

“I don’t know what it’s like to lose a child. I know people who do. But at the end of the day, you have to have your faith.”

If you thought Christmas wasn’t coming to this hard-hit town, think again. Not even two weeks have passed since a gunman opened fire on pupils and teachers at the town’s elementary school, and already the music of herald angels singing has replaced the noise of ugly gunfire.

But, yes, the grieving will go on for a while. Forever.

There were two children missing from last night’s gathering.

They were first-graders who were supposed to be in the pageant, before they were slain.

One was a little boy who had been set to play a shepherd.

The other was beautiful little Olivia Engel, 6, who was going to be an angel in the play.

“Everybody was thinking about [Olivia]’’ as the other tiny pageant angels entered the auditorium for their big moment, said Pam Arsenault, the parish education director at St. Rose of Lima Church, which sponsored the pageant.

“She’s the real angel now,” Arsenault said.

Even the dead children’s absence can’t keep the joy of life away from this town. Nowhere has anyone sang “Silent Night” with more reverence than the people did here last night. They sang “The First Noel” like it could have been their last.

Boys and girls, parents and grandparents filled the 1,000 seats in the high-school auditorium and lined the walls beyond the aisles. On stage were a dozen poinsettias and a manger filled with the hope of the world.

Monsignor Robert Weiss, pastor at St. Rose, talked about the star that guided the Three Wise Men to the newborn Jesus.

“Tonight, we rely on that same light to guide us like it did that night,” he told the crowd.

Referring to the 20 children who died in the slaughter, Weiss said, “Tonight, we have 20 new lights.”

In the lobby, a Santa Claus gave out hugs and candy canes near a table filled with gingerbread houses made by students.

Some of the children had just been to funerals only days before, but their faces lit up yesterday as if they were at a party.

About a mile away, a makeshift memorial of teddy bears and flowers honors the dead children and six teachers. Gifts and cards have flooded the local post office.

Arsenault said she has been inspired by the community. Not once, she said, did she hear talk of canceling Christmas.

“Everybody keeps saying to me, ‘I’ve never been prouder to live in Newtown,’ ” Arsenault said.

“The families are just inspiring. They just eulogized their own child, and I’d see them sitting in the back pew for another funeral comforting another family.”

There is still innocence here. There are smiles, and playing and singing and fun. Christmas celebrates the greatest gift of all.